The Dark Side of the Mobile Workforce
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 John Gallagher, Sr. Public Relations Manager
Every quarter iPass releases its Mobile Workforce Report, which is an insightful indication of the trends and habits of mobile workers around the globe. We try to highlight the good, the bad and the ugly, and the bad recently raised its ugly head in a report out from leading academic author, Dr. Carolyn Axtell from the Institute of Work Psychology at the University of Sheffield in England.
“Overcoming the challenges of the dark side of mobility is essential for well-being and satisfaction in life and work,” said Axtell. “People should be careful to mentally detach from work and create strong work-home boundaries while their employers should find ways to enhance employee control, provide support and reduce the expectations on them to work long hours.”
While many mobile workers labour more hours than a 9-5 job there’s a fine balance between a few more hours and excessive (15-20 hours more a week) that can have a detrimental effect on well-being due to the increased demands, lower control and higher fatigue. These demands and stresses can have an impact on relationships. However, those people working fewer extra hours do have lower stress than those working longer hours which might be due to their ability to ‘switch off’ from work and recharge their batteries.
It appears there’s likely a law of diminishing returns with working excessive hours. While many people take pride in their work and enjoy their jobs, if actual objective performance of a person working excessive hours was measured there might be a levelling off in performance, or possibly even a drop in performance over time. Research on extended shifts has found decreased reaction times and reduced grammatical reasoning along with increased fatigue and errors after extended periods of working long shifts.
There are key recommendations included in the report and while some of the findings illuminate the darker side of being a mobile worker, it also explains the brighter side that many of us experience – a better work-life balance for one. The report really allows people to reflect and think about where people and organizations stand today within the mobile workforce. It’s also worth sharing with colleagues to see what improvements you and your organisation can do to improve the well-being of your workforce.
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